Ranchi: Giving vent to their grievances against polygamy among the Santhals, around 800 tribal women from several states demanded abolition of the age-old practice.
At a two-day workshop here, speakers said tribal women as a rule have no right over any land owned by the family. A polygamous male could very well divorce his wife at his will, they alleged.
"Since the women have no rights over land, her situation is extremely insecure because she is at the mercy of her husband's wishes and whims," said a participant at the workshop that concluded Friday.
Chandmuni Hansda said the Santhal society allowrd a man to keep five wives simultaneously, making womenfolk extremely vulnerable.
"The tradition is so unjust that a Santhal woman can be disowned by her husband at any point without a tangible or valid reason and also without any compensation," said Chandmuni.
The participants at the workshop came from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The Sangharshrath Adivasi Mahila Manch organised it.
Speakers said widows and barren women were often branded witches and tortured by close relatives in an attempt to grab their land.
The women arrived at a consensus decision at the workshop to unite and start a movement against social injustices and denial of their rights.
The women activists also came down heavily on the Jharkhand government for its "failure" to check exploitation of tribal women in the state.
Addressing the gathering, noted Bengali writer Joya Mitra said the tribal women have always remained associated with the land and nature.
"They love working amid nature. Alien culture penetrating into the state is hampering their development," Mitra said.
"They also fall prey to the sexual exploitation of contractors who employ many of them in construction sites," she said.
Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=27653
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"In economic life there is extreme inequality and exploitation. Although colonialism no longer exists openly in the political and economic sphere, still it persists indirectly, and this should not be tolerated... In this respect you should remember that in economic life, we will have to guarantee the minimum requirements of life to one and all... There cannot be any sort of adjustment as far as this point is concerned. The minimum purchasing requirement must be guaranteed to all. Today these fundamental essentialities are not being guaranteed. Rather, people are being guided by deceptive economic ideas like outdated Marxism, which has proven ineffective in practical life and has not been successfully implemented in any corner of the world. Why do people still believe in such a theory, which has never been proved successful? The time has come for people to make a proper assessment of whether they are being misguided or not." |
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"Human beings have still not been able to form a human society, and have still not learned to move with the spirit of a pilgrim. Although many small groups, motivated by self-interest, work together in particular situations, not even a small fraction of their work is done with a broader social motive. By strict definition, shall we have to declare that each small family unit is a society in itself? If going ahead in mutual adjustment only out of narrow self-interest or momentary self-seeking is called society, then in such a society, no provision can be made for the disabled, the diseased or the helpless, because in most cases nobody can benefit from them in any way... in that case there always remains the possibility of some people getting isolated from the collective. All human beings must attach themselves to others by the common bond of love and march forward hand in hand; then only will I proclaim it a society." |